£509m rail line upgrade

Oct 31 2008 by William Green, The Journal

MORE than £500m is set to be spent upgrading the East Coast rail line to improve punctuality and ease overcrowding.

Rail regulators have approved plans to spend £509m on the East Coast Main Line, linking the North East with London and Scotland, over the next five years.

But concerns have been raised about whether it will be sufficient after infrastructure firm Network Rail was told to get by on less money than it wanted by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR).

The ORR ruled Network Rail will need £26.7bn for the five-year period beginning April 2009 – 8% less than the £29.1bn it requested.

Network Rail will carry out extra work to cut disruption caused by failing overhead power lines on the East Coast route, ensuring train companies can meet a key punctuality target.

Analysis by the company indicated the number of National Express East Coast trains arriving on time by 2014 would be below a new 92% target set by the ORR.

A series of other improvements will provide extra capacity, with £260m allocated to prepare for the introduction of a fleet of new high-speed trains.

A further £175m will be spent on redeveloping King’s Cross station ready for the 2012 London Olympics.

Hugh Morgan Williams, chairman of the Washington-based Canford group and a senior member of the CBI, said: “It is great news. The question is whether it will be enough.

“The East Coast Main Line on its current growth in passenger numbers will breach capacity in 2012, which is not very far away.”

Bruce Williamson, from passenger group Railfuture, said: “We need much more investment in rail. There is a danger of it grinding to a halt and the Government seems to be doing the bare minimum, although we welcome proposals to electrify the network.”

National Express East Coast managing director David Franks welcomed the announcement. “We hope to see progress on these important projects as soon as possible,” said Mr Franks.

Paul Plummer, Network Rail’s director of planning and regulation, welcomed high levels of investment, but warned the company had to be satisfied it could deliver what was proposed.

The Association of Train Operating Companies said Network Rail would be able to invest in extra signalling, crossovers and specialist equipment to allow East Coast trains to run while engineering works take place, including at weekends.

Association chief executive Michael Roberts welcomed the constructive attempt to improve Network Rail’s efficiency but warned there was “much unfinished business”.

An ORR spokesman said the work would increase capacity to deal with overcrowding and cut journey times.

“In upgrading the East Coast Main Line, Network Rail will be required to cause a third less disruption to rail passengers than they do now,” he added.